This invention relates broadly to apparatus for supplying water to a supporting stand of the type used for cut Christmas trees and more specifically to method and apparatus for maintaining a constant water level in such a tree stand by providing a continuous flow from a constant level remote reservoir.
It is common practice in the United States to display within the home during the Christmas Season decorated evergreen trees which have been cut and sold specifically for such display which normally lasts only a few weeks. In order to keep the tree as well preserved as possible and to prevent it from drying out and losing its needles, it is common to employ a stand which includes a water receptacle in which the bottom or cut end of the tree's trunk is immersed. By keeping the bottom end of the trunk so immersed in water, the owner reduces the possible fire hazard which a dried out tree would present.
One of the problems with such tree stands is the fact that it is difficult to observe the water level in the tree stand receptacle and it is also difficult to fill the receptacle when the water evaporates therefrom or is absorbed by the tree supported therein.
The recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,224 to Weckesser is illustrative of one approach to solving these problems. The Weckesser patent is directed to a Christmas tree irrigation device that supplies water from a separate receptacle through a flexible tube to the water container in a tree stand. The device of the Weckesser patent includes no means to continuously supply water to the tree stand and requires that the user observe the water level in the tree stand to determine when additional water is needed and how much water is needed. It would be preferable to have an irrigation or watering device which would automatically supply water on a continuous basis to the tree stand to maintain a predetermined, constant level of water therein.